LAS VEGAS — After seeing Leon Rose negotiate mega contracts for all his friends, Dwyane Wade is not surprised that the former agent is succeeding as Knicks president.
“Not at all. You see how much money he helps people get?” Wade, the Hall of Fame player, said. “He’s been incredible there. It feels like New York, what they’re building out there, it has a feeling of New York. So that feels good for them. … They’ve been doing an incredible job of finding the DNA that fans want to root for. And I think that’s the most important thing for certain markets.”
Rose represented all the “Banana Boat buddies” — Wade, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James — before leaving Creative Artists Agency to run the Knicks.
In his six seasons at the top of the front office, Rose helped transform the Knicks from a dysfunctional laughingstock into a legitimate contender for the NBA Finals.
With a win Sunday against the Spurs, the Knicks would win the NBA Cup and the franchise’s first title — of any kind — since 1973.
Still, Rose is camera shy and doesn’t speak publicly about his success or anything else.
“Leon is behind the scenes,” Wade said. “I don’t think people even know how Leon looks.”
Mikal Bridges has a favorite player, but he’d pick somebody else to be his teammate.
“Tracy McGrady. One of my favorite players ever. Just his talent,” Bridges said. “For me personally, though, I think wouldn’t be able to get the ball [if McGrady was my teammate]. So somebody like [Rajon] Rondo.”
OG Anunoby reiterated that winning the NBA Cup would be “pretty cool” but didn’t want to lose sight of the main prerogative.
“The one in June is our main goal,” Anunoby said.
So much for knowing Knicks history.
Out of the three current players quizzed on New York’s starting lineup for the 1999 Finals — Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns — only Brunson got one player.
The lineup for that series against the Spurs was Charlie Ward, Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson and Marcus Camby.
Brunson, whose father was a reserve on the team, correctly named four but missed Ward.
